Stress fracture city

Four weeks ago I was diagnosed with a tibial stress fracture. I went back to the doctor's today and was told I could resume running in two weeks time.

The smart person in me knows that I wont be starting off with 50 mile weeks. I'm just hoping to make it through 3 miles on day 1. I've looked at some rehab training plans to get a basic understanding of where to start; but I was hoping someone else here has had some experience with the same thing. It's not that I don't trust Google, I just find personable advice to be a bit more, well, personable.

Any advice on how far to take my running for the first few weeks back? Maybe just every other day/short distance/slow pace?

After my tibial stress fracture I returned with 2 mile jogs every other day. Then I increased the milage until I was comfortable doing 3-4 miles at a time with no problems. Then I broke up my training into the typical long run, tempo, speed, and easy run days varying the distance. Then I just worked in getting my based back after that.

However I was running less than 30mpw when I got injured. So I started back up from ground zero. You having a better base you could probably return to milage a little faster than I did. I'd still start out with shorter runs to test the waters though.

I think "listen to your body" is good advice and works well for most stress fractures. You'll know if you are pushing it too much.

I would be sure that you can WALK three miles before you even think about running one mile. Provided you have been compliant with you recovery, six weeks should be enough time to allow for healing, however your bone is stil not going to be 100%. I would be a lot more conservative. No sense to re-injure yourself, stress fracture or soft tissue.

If you have access to a track, the rubberized surface is much easier on the legs. I started running short and easy on a track 4 weeks into my tibial stress fracture or reaction last May, and was able to get back on track for my July marathon. Prior to the track running I spent two weeks walking slowly on an incline treadmill set to a very steep 30% slope, and had very little pain, and I stopped as soon as I felt any pain at all.

Since my stress fracture was in the front of the tibia, my theory is that the uphill walking would tend to compress the fracture and not open it up and there was no pounding because it was a slow walk, so this did not exacerbate the stress fracture and may have even helped it heal quicker. I had a good outcome; YMMV.

I agree with MeganZe--you can't expect to go out and run right away. The healing process for fractures takes 8-12 weeks, so as she points out, your bone is not going to be 100% so you don't want to place any additional stress on it by going too fast too soon. I know this is a killer for us runners--to purposely take it easy--but you'll be better off in the long run.

This is a great program to get you started back to recovery. I've been using it and though it's been a slow go, I highly recommend it!

I've had a bunch of these things and as hard as it is to resist the urge to jump back in, especially at the start of spring, you have got to go SLOW in your return. Start with walks every other day and build up to where you can walk for at least an hour without pain. Then you can start adding in 30-60 seconds at a time of running. Do it on grass if you can.

As you make your slow return realize that it might seem painfully slow but that a year or two years out this will all only be a blip. IF you start getting antsy without a point of focus that revolves around mileage, then channel that focus into figuring out what caused the fracture in the first place. Nutrition? Form? Too much too soon? Start addressing the underlying cause now, even before you are fully healed. The best predictor of someone who will have a stress fracture, is a history of stress fractures. And the reason is probably because we don't stop making the same mistakes that led to the first one.

I've had a bunch of these things and as hard as it is to resist the urge to jump back in, especially at the start of spring, you have got to go SLOW in your return. Start with walks every other day and build up to where you can walk for at least an hour without pain. Then you can start adding in 30-60 seconds at a time of running. Do it on grass if you can.

As you make your slow return realize that it might seem painfully slow but that a year or two years out this will all only be a blip. IF you start getting antsy without a point of focus that revolves around mileage, then channel that focus into figuring out what caused the fracture in the first place. Nutrition? Form? Too much too soon? Start addressing the underlying cause now, even before you are fully healed. The best predictor of someone who will have a stress fracture, is a history of stress fractures. And the reason is probably because we don't stop making the same mistakes that led to the first one.

Remove From Your Block List

Manage Follow Preferences

Block

When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.